The invention relates to the treatment of image-recording media, particularly photographic film.
The German patent 41 26 579 discloses a continuous film developing apparatus having an arrangement for withdrawing exposed photographic film from cartridges. A cartridge is placed in a lightproof chamber and the film is withdrawn from the cartridge by a conveying device. Only one film cartridge can be placed in the developing apparatus at one time, and an operator must always be present when a film has been pulled into the apparatus completely. Only then can the lightproof chamber be opened to remove the empty cartridge, insert a new cartridge and feed the leading end of the film into the conveying device. On the one hand, this requires the operator to be present for much of the time and also requires a high degree of concentration. On the other hand, the replacement of an empty cartridge by a full cartridge results in a loss of time which significantly affects the output of the developing apparatus.
To alleviate these drawbacks, the German publication 43, 11, 483 teaches a magazine which can receive film cartridges and has a device for guiding films into the developing apparatus. With this arrangement, there is a fixed number of supply stations which are successively brought into a processing station. The arrangement is not only very costly but gaps develop when cartridges are not placed in the supply stations continuously. Such gaps result in lost processing time. If the gaps are to be avoided, complicated devices must be provided. Moreover, from the moment that films are placed in the supply stations, the processing sequence for the films is fixed and priority treatment of urgent films is not possible.